Recent reports indicate a slump in home buying nationally. The Associated Press reported November was the third consecutive month of decline in people who bought existing homes and that the annual rate of home resales had fallen 4.3 percent to 4.90 million.

That was the weakest pace since December 2012.

But Al George of RE/MAX in Jennersville says home buyers and sellers in southern Chester County can disregard the national trends.

“When people come to me and say, ‘I hear this and I hear that and I’m getting conflicting stories,’ I say real estate is all local,” George said. “It’s just like when you get up in the morning. I don’t listen to the national weather forecast; I listen to a local forecast. I tell people they really need to check with a good, local agent here and they will bring them up to speed on everything that’s going on in southern Chester County.”

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And southern Chester County has been doing just fine, despite the decline nationally.

“This area is still moving along quite well, in my opinion,” George said. “Everything is going forward and moving up. All the agents are very positive about going into the new year because there are a lot of opportunities out there still right now, as far as interest rates go.”

Tammy Duering of RE/MAX Preferred in West Chester agrees there has been a continual upward trend here.

“Things are turning over,” she said. “Things that normally take longer to sell are going a lot quicker out in southern Chester County. All in all, it’s still somewhat a buyer’s market, even though the values are stabilized and increasing.

“They’re still not back to where they were in 2006, but they’re increasing and going in the right direction now.”

The decline nationally during November had some effect on the area, Duering said, but she attributes that to government.

“This year, with the government shutdown, that affected it,” she said. “Buyers held. We’ll have an influx in January and February of the fall buyers, and then our spring market will start up with March.”

But this doesn’t mean everything about the local real estate market is fine and dandy here. There is a shortage of inventory.

“During the whole course of this year, for me, there has been a low inventory,” George said. “Last year, we had a seven-month supply, and this year we’re at five, maybe five and a half.

“It’s not that people don’t want to sell; they’re just still fearful of this market that a lot of them fear they cannot get the price that they had hoped for. People feel the prices are still off.”

Duering said she has seen the same low inventory, which in turn has properties selling at a rapid pace.

“The Kennett area market doesn’t have a lot of inventory out,” she said. “If homes are priced right and shown well — most buyers don’t want to have to do any work — they’re selling very quickly. You’re not getting a lot of inventory just sitting there unless it’s in really bad shape.”

The same is occurring in West Chester, prompting multiple offers on each home, she said.

Some areas may have been hit hard and are experiencing a depression in the market that has kept many from selling, but southern Chester County is not one of them, said George.

“If you have a house and it’s properly priced, right now you’re selling 95 percent of the asking price,” he said. “That’s up from last year, when it was around 92 percent of asking price.”

National reports may put real estate in a dark light, but it’s still shining bright in southern Chester County.

“If we compared this to two or three years ago, even if things were OK then, they are a lot better now,” George said. “And the phones are ringing more with people who have made it their goal to get a home between now and the end of next year.